New Gaza flotilla: 'We are not scared of Israeli brutality'

A new flotilla with humanitarian aid on board is going to help people in Gaza; the mission is beyond political polarization and in full compliance with international law, Osama Qashoo, member of the first flotilla to Gaza, told RT’s In The Now.

A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid has set out from Sweden on
its way to Gaza which is under and Israeli maritime blockade. The
ships are carrying pro-Palestinian activists aiming to break the
blockade. Two other vessels are expected to join them later. The
Foreign Ministry of Israel has described it an unnecessary
provocation, saying the boats will be denied entry, and if you
want to send aid to Gaza - do it via Israel.

Up to 10 people were killed 5 years ago when Israel tried to block
the first flotilla bound for Gaza.

For more on that RT asked Osama Qashoo, filmmaker and activist,
member of the first flotilla to Gaza.

RT:Were you aware of the danger when you
decided to take this trip?

Osama Qashoo: Of course everybody who is taking
actions and doing any kind of solidarity and humanitarian aid for
Palestine is aware of the ugliness of the Israeli machine and the
brutal and bloody heavy handed way of the Israeli Army and the
Israeli government in general. We were all aware of that.

RT:Why did you take the risk then?

OQ: Somebody has to take the risk. I think we
have a responsibility. We, as a civil society and as
international society, must act if the governments are not acting
and not doing well. We constantly watch the screens and see
people being killed and butchered on a daily basis without saying
anything. It’s our responsibility as human beings to stand side
by side and try to communicate what we feel very strongly as
wrong.

RT:Israel said that is was a self-defense
from its side, that the flotilla attacked the Israeli commandos.
How can you comment on that?

OQ: We said this millions of times - we were in
the international water, we were absolute civilians. We had more
than 700 cameras filming on board of that ship. None of these
pictures were released to the public to make the public judge
what happened on the ship. I can’t just understand how you can
attack a ship in the middle of international waters by naval
vessels and by the army that is the forth strongest army in the
world, and also with helicopters and assume that they were
attacked. That just doesn’t make sense. The definition doesn’t
really get a fit in this kind of description. We were on the
boat, we were cruising towards Gaza with aid and they landed on
top of the ship shooting live ammunition and they killed ten of
us. I don’t see how people can just have the cheek of saying that
we attacked them.

RT:Israel says the flotilla 1 activists
were closely linked to Hamas. Is it true? Were any Hamas-linked
people on board of the ship?

OQ: Let’s just look at a bigger picture here.
According to the Israeli laws every two Palestinians together are
breaking the law are terrorists. The head of the Palestinian
authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is in fact a terrorist under the
Israeli definition. So I wouldn’t like to refer and to relate to
the Israeli way of analyzing things. The Palestinian people who
have been suffering the longest occupation, who have been
scattered all over the world, who have been suffering injustices.
We are the real victims…Palestinian people have different
political factions … We are not affiliated with any political
groups, that is not what we do as international society. We were
basically going to Gaza to help people who are in serious need.
The aid that we were taking with us was for the use of the
people. I don’t think it’s a kind of a matter of who is going to
benefit out of these things. We are taking them for children. I
don’t think children have any political kind of vision, any
political color there. We are beyond color, the religion and this
political polarization. We were going there for a very simple
reason – breaking and ending the siege that was imposed illegally
by the international definition on the Palestinian people. And
what we did, what’s completely complacent with the international
law Israel violated that, they attacked us as an act of piracy.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) basically declared that
what happened in the sea was a war crime but yet they won’t do
anything about it…

RT:Is it the best way to get aid to Gaza if
you know that Israel will take actions?

OQ: Let me just tell you something. When the
Israeli ex-Prime Minister Ehud Barak with his gangs went to
Tunisia and they killed the Palestinian leader Khalil al-Wazir
and after their vicious techniques of killing Palestinian
activists and Palestinian supporters all over the world, in
Germany and in the UK, here and there, all over the world… He
said in his diaries that the fact that Israel is not just going
to kill but it’s the way they kill. So they are using the terror
to scare the others. What happened in the middle of the sea in
2010 to us was to terrorize other people and prevent them from
doing the same thing. I think the activists, my friends and
comrades, who are now on their way to Gaza; they are not the last
ones. They are all fully aware of the danger. We are not scared
of the Israeli brutality and its terror machine. I think that if
the international community would allow another massacre to
happen, the international community is to be responsible…We know
what is happening in Palestine and we should interfere, everybody
has to put the foot down and say “enough is enough” because blood
is not a product that we have to trade with. And that’s what
Israel is definitely doing.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.